Over half (56.4 per cent) of self-employed Europeans continued working after receiving their first old-age pension, data from Eurostat has revealed.

The data, from the 2023 labour force survey of old-age pensioners in the EU, showed that among the EU countries, Sweden (98.4 per cent) had the highest percentage of self-employed old-age pensioners who continued to work or re-entered the labour market.

This was followed by Finland (88 per cent) and Ireland (87.7 per cent), while the lowest percentage of self-employed old-age pensioners who continued to work or re-entered the labour market was in Spain (18.2 per cent).

This was followed by Greece (20.3 per cent), and Slovenia (40.4 per cent).

The research also showed that in 2023, 10.2 per cent of old-age pensioners aged 50-74 were employed, with more than half (57 per cent) of employed old-age pensioners in the EU engaged in part-time employment.

This rate was much higher than for those who are not old-age pensioners (16.2 per cent).

Additionally, the research revealed that part-time employment was more common among old-age pensioners in all EU countries but varied significantly across countries.  

Croatia had the highest share of part-time employed old-age pensioners (89.4 per cent) and the largest disparity with non-pensioners (3.4 per cent), resulting in a substantial gap of 86.0 percentage points.

This was followed by Sweden (79.2 per cent) and Belgium (78 per cent), with the highest shares of part-time employed old-age pensioners.

In contrast, Bulgaria reported the lowest share of part-time employment among old-age pensioners (9.2 per cent) and non-pensioners (1.2 per cent).

Meanwhile, Lithuania (19 per cent) and Latvia (23.2 per cent) also registered the lowest shares of part-time employed old-age pensioners.

In comparison, the Netherlands, which had the highest overall share of part-time employment, displayed the smallest relative difference between old-age pensioners (57.8 per cent) and non-pensioners (39.4 per cent).

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